Our local CBS television affiliate station in Little Rock has a terrific theme. It’s called “We are better together.” Each time I watch this I am truly inspired, especially when my friend Craig O’Neill has the closing line and employs that tremendously expressive face of his to end the jingle with the words “we are better together.”
As I thought about this, I realized that this is not only a “theme” but also a principle that any of us can use to make things better in our homes, our businesses, our churches and most importantly our country. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of all the bickering and slanderous conversation that is tearing our nation apart. All of us deserve better.
When we talk about being together, let’s make sure our purpose or objective is good and honorable and has the best interests of those involved. For a home, it should be harmony between family members who love and respect each other. For business, the objective is to earn a profit by meeting the needs of the customers, who pay all the bills. For a church, the single most important objective must be to honor and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. For a nation, while we will always have differences, we should seek to preserve the union by seeking solutions to our problems together, because the whole ship stays up or the whole ship goes down.
To enhance our thinking on this topic, here are some wonderful slogans on togetherness that will give you some ideas:
Alone we can do so little, TOGETHER we can do so much.
Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.
Growth is never by chance, it is the result of forces working together.
If everyone is moving forward together, success takes care of itself.
If we want to go fast – go alone, if we want to go far – go together.
Individually, we are only a drop, but together we are an ocean.
When you see a successful home, business, church or nation, you will find a qualified, competent and compassionate leader. As every schoolteacher knows, “They don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Now, if what I have been saying sounds like Pollyanna, it is really not, because these are just principles and ideals that have been around since the beginning of time. Our forefathers used them when they came to our shores to establish this nation. While not perfect, the U.S. Constitution has been called the greatest document ever written to govern the affairs of men and women. We have a great heritage and all we have to do is go back to it from to time to make sure we are on the right course.
When it is all said and done, the most precious thing we have is freedom, and that was won with blood, sweat and tears of those who served our nation in times of war. The greatest resource we have is our young people, because in time they will hold all the positions of leadership in our country. As adults, let’s give them something to be proud about, because we made personal sacrifices to build a spirit of harmony and togetherness, among our people. As individuals let’s work hard to do our jobs the very best we can, and hold our elected officials accountable to be productive and represent our people and do things “together” for what is best for America. We need men and woman of character to lead us.
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(Editor’s Note: JIM DAVIDSON is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist and founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. Since its inception in 1995, Jim’s column has been self-syndicated to over 375 newspapers in 35 states, making it one of the most successful in the history of American journalism.)